On this page you can choose all the functions that are needed to play the game through "play by web".
The first button is , this will only be seen if there is any turn to download. Turns should be named by gamename_turnnumber.zip, i e test_23.zip and contain atleast the GAM file ( i e test.gam) but preferably also the LOG and CMB files (movement log and combat replay files).
After having clicked on this button you must choose if you wish to download or open the file, this choice is left to you.
The second button is . By pressing this button you are transferred to the upload turn page where you must choose a file to upload, see this page in the help topics.
Next is the button that will take you to another website, this website is choosen by the game host and should preperably point to a site with a bulletin board system, a forum.
Per default this points to the shrapnel games forum for Space Empires IV Gold, they are the company who sells the Space Empires IV Gold game (That is made by Malfador Machinations, if you had forgotten!).
Next is the button that will take you to the game administration log in page, if it is the first time you press this button you will bypass this page and go directly to the admin screen.
Next is a button. Sometimes after having uploaded a turn you might get back to a main game page that has been cached in your local computer, in that case it might not show that you have uploaded your game, if so press this button, refresh the page is all it does.
The button should be self descriptory!
Next there might be some news from the game host, if he has so choosen these news might be mailed out to all players.
If you wish to view old news you may do so by clicking on the View all game news text line at the bottom of the page.
If any game turn is uploaded the current turn number will be shown above the player table.
If the host has set the deadline length to anything but zero the current deadline will be shown next;
First a countdown in hours to the deadline and then the time for the deadline in local server time, to reference against this the next line will show the current server time, it will update each minute. After this the timezone for the server will be shown if the game host has entered that information.
Next there might be some red lines showing, these refer to the current turn status, is the autoturn application not running but the game is set to fully "automatic" turns or "Last player upload" turns a warning will be shown.
A warning will also be shown if the game is set to full "automatic" turns and the server host has disabled this feature.
If the turn is marked for execution a line here will inform you of this, this will happen when the game is set to "automatic" or "Last player upload" turn type and all player has uploaded, or if the host has marked the turn for turn execution.
The turn will then run on the next pass of the autorun application, the intervals of these passes are set by the server owner.
Next is the player table;
Here you can see the name of each player, if you click on a name your mail application will start with the players e-mail filled in automaticly.
If there are no current player for the game it will be marked with (none) and if the empire is dead it will be marked (Dead).
To the right of the player name is the empire name column. next to this is the turn status column.
Turn status might be uploaded or missing. i f the empire has no player it will be marked Open and if it is a dead empire it will be marked Closed.
Below the player table the history of the game will be shown, here you can see who has uploaded, when the turn was executed and so on.
You will only see the last few lines of the history, if you wish to see the complete history (be warned, it can be long!) you may click on the text line above the history which says
/click here for full history)
Next there might be a informative text line entered by the game host.
Below the line you will find mail the game host button, if you click this your mail program will start with the game host e-mail filled in.
If this site is a one game site the next button will point you towards the server administration log-in page, otherwise it will direct you back to the
Index page where you may choose another game.
If the server host has entered any descriptive bottom information text line it will be shown next.
Below this is the site script version number and a link to all the old game news.